“I don’t want to Aura, I’m so tired of secrets layered on top of more secrets.”
“Shadow,” A voice said in my ear. Where was it coming from? All I saw was a vast nothingness, and why did the voice sound so familiar, “I don’t have much time so you need to listen to me, I just hope you can hear me.”
“Who are you?” I tried to ask, but my voice was nonexistent.
The stallion’s voice spoke again close to my ear, “Listen Shadow, if you can hear me you need to go to Spitfire’s Flight Academy. A group of ponies live there, they’re called the Annihilators. Find a way into the base and talk to the mare who runs things there. Tell her ‘the night still runs free’ and she will help you. You’re Pip-Buck can get you into the basement, there you will find answers.”
“What do you mean? I don’t have time to go wandering off on another mission, I have to get my friend back,” I tried saying, but still it seemed like I didn’t even have a voice.
“Be safe, and don’t worry about your friend, you’ll see him again,” the voice said, then everything around me went silent. I felt myself slipping away, the darkness calling me back into its comforting embrace…
***
I awoke, bolting up right and looking around, panting slightly as if I had just ran a mile. I was in the back room of the clinic for Frosty Summit. Dr. Cottage was sitting in a chair throwing a large red and grey ball against the far wall. It bounced and he caught it again, when I bolted up right, he looked over at me, “Oh, you’re awake, good.”
“How long was I out?”
“Do I look like a time piece?” he responded tossing the ball back at the wall again.
“Dammit Cottage, how long was I out? I don’t want to hear any of your sarcastic bullshit.”
He rolled his eyes, took another one of his pills and said, “Fine, you’ve been out for a few hours, and before you go shooting off questions about what happened with your buck friend, I don’t know. The griffon tried to look for him once you were out, same for the Sarge, but they didn’t have much luck. That’s all I know.”
“I have to find him,” I said trying to get out of bed, but Aura walked in just then and glared at me.
“What do you think you’re doing Shadow?” she said, her voice telling me that getting up would be a bad idea.
“She’s trying to do something moronic. What else?” Cottage said still tossing his ball.
“Get out Cottage, I need to have a word with my employer,” Aura said training her deadly stare on him.
He just rolled his eyes and got up, “Fine, I’ll be in my office,” he looked back at me and continued, “By the way, I did my examination on you and found a couple interesting things. When you’re finished here talk to 21, she’ll explain.”
He walked past my griffon companion and shut the door behind him. Once he was gone Aura walked over and sat next to my bed, taking one talon, she forced me to lay back down. I tried to resist, but my body still hurt from my fall, “Aura we don’t have time to do this, we need to get Stardust back.”
“Don’t you think I know that Shadow? Running off with no information is just stupid. I already tried to follow them, but the trail went cold just outside of Frosty Summit’s borders.”
“SO, you just gave up!?” I yelled.
To my surprise, Aura slapped me. I rubbed my face then saw the anger on her face, “Don’t you ever accuse me of giving up on anything. You have no idea what I’ve been doing while you were out. Would you like to know or do you want to act like a self-righteous bitch some more?”
I lowered my gaze, “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m just scared right now, and I have no idea what to do.”
“No shit Boss, we all are. Wingnut hasn’t left Stardust’s room ever since he found out what happened, Silver is off doing goddesses knows what, and I’ve been trying to figure out what happened,” Aura said finally calming her voice a little as she continued, “Once you were put under, we went looking for any signs of the sins or where they might’ve gone. As I told you before, the trail went cold, so I started looking into who that mare was, the one who Stardust saved. No pony knows where she came from, so I assume she was meant to sneak in under the confusion from the battle.”
“I was wondering about that, she seemed way too clingy to Stardust. Sure, he saved her from Winter Frost, but it was a little much. She was acting all slutty.”
“My thoughts exactly, what I think is that this whole attack had nothing to do with just you. I think they were after Stardust the whole time, you were just a lucky bonus.”
“What I don’t understand is, what this all has to do with getting Stardust back.”
“I was getting to that. What I want you to do is think. If they wanted him dead, they would’ve killed him. That’s what the Sins do, they kill ponies. That’s what they do best, but they didn’t kill Stardust. They took him with them, which means they need him alive for some reason. Which means for now, he should be okay, that gives us time to find out where they took him so we can save him,” she said.
“We don’t know that for sure, and even if you’re right, how long would it take us to find out where he went? Every moment we sit around here, we lose ground, every minute counts.”
She slapped me again, “Start thinking with your head. Yes, every minute counts but we also don’t know where to start. We need help Shadow and there’s only one place that I can think of that might be able to do just that.”
“Where?” I asked rubbing my face again.
She lowered her gaze and sighed, “Crimson Canyon, what you need is griffons to help you look for them, ones that have a lot of recourses to do so. As much as I hate to admit it, I don’t have enough contacts anymore to help.”
“Wait, so now you think it’s a good idea for us to go to Crimson Canyon? I thought you were dreading going there?”
“I am…I still don’t want to go either, but now we really have to. If you can get Gigi to listen to you, you could hire a few griffons to locate Stardust or the Sin’s, and they could go in and get him out too. It will be costly, but you may be able to get Apollo to help you with that.” She said.
“You may be right, and I have to go there anyway, so maybe I could kill two birds with one stone…no pun intended.”
She gave me a flat look, “Anyway you also should know that getting into the Canyon is dangerous as well.”
I looked at her a little puzzled, “Why?”
“Because you’ll have me with you, the Red Talons always have look outs posted and once they see me coming back home, they’ll try and stop you. You’ll have to show them that I’m contracted with you, then they’ll take you to the leaders to verify everything is okay. They may take away our weapons and not be very nice to us about it either, you have to just do what they say and keep your comments to yourself.”
“Fine, so when can we head out and how far are we from Crimson Canyon?”
“We can head out soon, we just need to restock our ammo and make sure you’re okay to leave. As for how far we are, honestly, it’s not far, the problem is there isn’t any roads that would get us there quickly. The mountains make it too dangerous, we’d have to go back a couple hours down the path toward New Pegasus, then head south then back west to reach it. It could take us a couple of days.”
“A couple of DAYS! We can’t wait that long!” I said almost jumping out of the bed.
“I know, but we may not have too. I could fly you down there myself and it wouldn’t take more than an hour or so. The problem is we have Silver and Wingnut with us and I can’t take everyone.”
The look she gave me when she said that told me what she meant by that statement, “You want to leave them behind don’t you.”
“I don’t want too, but at this point it would be best. Wingnut would do well here, with his talent for fixing things he could do a lot of good. I know Silver and you are mare friends, but even if she can take care of herself out there, it’s still too much to ask her to come along into something so dangerous. It would be best for both of them if they stayed behind.” Aura said, her voice getting quiet as she spoke, I could tell that she wasn’t any happier than I was with the thought of leaving any of our friends behind.
I sighed, “You have a point, this mission has gotten dangerous, even more so now that the Sins are still coming after us even this far west. I don’t want anything to happen to Wingnut or to Silver, but at the same time I can’t just make them stay behind. We should at least give them the option and see what they want to do.”
“We could do that, but if they insist on going with us, you know we’ll lose a lot of time in travel.”
“I know, but as much as I hate it, it may be a sacrifice that we’ll have to make. I’ll just have to trust that Stardust will be okay until we get there.”
“Okay, you’re the boss, but remember if something happens to him and that extra time we lost is the reason why, I did warn you.” she said getting to her talons, “I should go find Silver and Wingnut so we can talk this out before you make up your mind.”
I reached a hoof out and took hold of one of Aura’s wings, “Wait a second Aura.”
She looked back at me, “What?”
“I need to know what I’m getting myself into when I get to your old home. Can you finally tell me what happened that got you banished from there in the first place?”
For a long moment, she just looked at me with sad eyes, then she moved and sat back down, “Shadow, to put it bluntly I broke one of our Ten rules. The Ten Laws of the Red Talons, were laid down by our founder a long time ago. When I was younger I used to think that rules were stupid, I would push the limits on whatever I could get away with, but I always followed those ten, because if you break any of them, you are no longer a Red Talon. Back then it was a fate worse than death to lose your family and company.”
“I take it you broke one, is that you meant when you said you broke rule 7 when you were talking to Gina?” I asked
“Yeah, I did. Two years ago in fact, but I didn’t get caught until a few months back.”
“What did you do?”
“I betrayed my family by putting a pony before them, at least that’s part of it. That’s how Gigi looks at it at least, she didn’t want her family name to be disgraced so she kicked me out and told me that the only way I could get back in was to prove I was worth it. Mom’s always been about clan and family, and when I did what I did, I wasn’t her daughter anymore, I was a worthless griffon that needed to be used as a message to show the rest that even the leader’s daughter can’t get away with breaking the rules.”
“How did you betray your family and company though?”
She swallowed then said slowly, “I put my happiness over everything else, and in the end I was lost because of it.”
I was still confused, “Can you please stop going around the subject and tell me what you did.”
She opened her beak to say something, then she closed it and shook her head, “You’ll see when we get there I’m sure, so I might as well tell you…I fell…”
Before she could tell me Wingnut burst into the room, “Shadow you’re finally up!” he ran over and jumped on the bed, “I was worried that you got hurt really bad after that fight, but you look a lot better than when they brought you in.”
“I’ll say, you looked like a rag doll earlier.” Silver said from the door way.
Of course, they would pick now to run in right when I was finally getting Aura to open up. I sighed, “You two have the worst timing you know that.”
“Why do you say that?” Silver asked walking over to sit next to Aura by my bed.
“It doesn’t matter, we were just planning on what to do next.” Aura said avoiding the earlier situation as quickly as she could.
“Yeah, that’s all we were doing.” I said flatly, “Anyway, so we have to head to Crimson Canyon, Aura thinks the Red Talon’s could help us find Stardust. Right now, that is our Number one concern.”
“Why do we need to get help from the Red Talons?” Wingnut asked.
“Because they will be able to at least figure out where they took him.” Aura said getting back to her talons, “The only problem is we don’t have a lot of time to figure this out, I been talking to Shadow about this and she’s left it up to you. Do you two want to go with us or stay here? Now before you answer think about this, if you two stay behind, I can fly Shadow right to Crimson Canyon and save us a lot of time, if you two come with it will add at least two days to our trip and that could be the time we need to save him.”
“Shadow do you really want us to stay behind?” Silver asked, giving me a hurt look.
“No, I don’t, but she has a point. We need to save as much time as we can, but at the same time I don’t want to leave you two behind.”
“There has to be a faster way for all of us to get there.” Wingnut added.
Aura chuckled, “Not unless you know where we can get a working Sky carriage.”
Wingnut slumped, “No, but I don’t want to stay behind, you are all I have now.”
I reached over and pulled the colt into a tight hug, “I know Wingnut, but think about it, with your brains you could do a lot of good here.”
“Maybe I could, but that doesn’t mean I want to stay behind. Incase you forgot, Stardust is my friend too.”
“And I am far from home and don’t feel like getting left behind just to make it easier on you, maybe we can find a faster way to get there.” Silver said.
“I could always help.” Violet said from the doorway.
“What do you mean?” I asked, I was getting used to the Alicorn randomly showing up by now.
“I apologize for eavesdropping Shadow and friends but I couldn’t help but overhear the time issue you’re facing, I can help if I can get enough radiation. I could teleport you to the other side of the mountain, it would get you either close or right to Crimson Canyon.” She said.
“You’d really do that for us?” I asked a little surprised.
“Of course I would, you did help to save the ponies that live here, and I also feel partly responsible for Stardust’s abduction. I shouldn’t have let that mare get past me like she did.” Violet said.
Aura shook her head, “Don’t blame yourself, we were all fooled by that bitch. You had more going on than we did, don’t worry too much about it. You lost two of your Alicorns and some of your ponies, you need to worry about them, not us.”
She smiled a little, “That may be true, but still I feel a little bit guilty. At the very least, I can do this small thing to help you.”
“If you can get us close and save us time Violet, then I’d be happy to take your help.” I said
“I’m happy to hear that. I have a place nearby that has radiation I can use.”
“Wait why do you need radiation to be able to send us to Crimson Canyon?” I asked.
“It’s quite simple really, radiation makes Alicorns more powerful. Even with the extra power I get from the Amulet, I still don’t have enough after that fight to send all of you so far. A little while spent in radiation will help me get what I need.”
“Sure…simple…How long will it take?”
“Not too long, maybe twenty minutes or so.”
“Great, I guess I’ll just sit around here and wait.” I said laying back in the bed.
“Don’t sound so depressed, it won’t take me to long I’m sure.” Violet said before she teleported away.
“So what now Shorty?” Aura asked.
“I have a couple of things I could get done while we wait, why don’t you go see if there is any pony we can trade with here. We really need to stalk up on Ammo.” I said looking over at Silver.
“Sure thing Shadow, you just relax while we wait.” Silver said walking out of the room.
“I’m going to go get our stuff from Stardust’s room.” Wingnut said dashing out of the room.
Once again I was alone in the room with Aura, who was looking rather uncomfortable, “Don’t worry Aura, I’m not going to keep bugging out about your past. I’ve got too much to do before we go.”
“Are you sure?” She asked, her body relaxing.
“Yeah,” I said using my magic, I pulled my saddles bags over to me and looked in them. Finally, I pulled out the recording mom left for me with the memory orbs, “I should have listened to this when I first got it, but with everything going on I just couldn’t. Now that I have time, I think I should get this over with.”
“Do you want me to leave you alone while you do?”
I smiled and looked over at her, “Actually would you mind staying here with me?”
“Sure no problem Boss,” Aura said sitting back down next to my bed, “Let’s see what your mom has to say.”
I hooked the recording to my Pip-Buck and waited…
Encrypted Recording Detected, Attempting to Decrypt…
Recording Decrypted…Playing Audio File…
I held my breath as the recording started, at first, I could only hear a little static in the background, and then mom’s Voice echoed out of my Pip-Buck.
Hello Shadow,
I’m glad you were able to get this recording from Lonely Hearts, he really is a good pony…well synth but still you never know if somepony will do what you ask them too. Anyway before I ramble. First off I hope you’re doing okay out here, I know how hard it is to understand how things work in the wasteland and putting you through all this breaks my heart. In my last letter and recordings I’ve told you that I can’t tell you much because I feared another pony finding this Pip-Buck and what they would discover on it. That’s why I had Auntie hide what she could, though knowing her, she probably went overboard, she does likes to show-off her skills whenever she can get away with it.
The reason I left this recording for you, well a big part of it is because of the memory orbs I left you. The first two there are my own, they will help explain what I was working on and what I had to do. There are more of them out there, but do to unforeseen circumstances, some of them are gone, maybe you’ll get lucky and find some of them, I know a couple were lost near Cartwheel when I was visiting an old friend near there. No matter, the ones that you need to see are the two I left with the Detective. The last one is a big deal, at least to me it was. I was lucky that I found it, you see two hundred years ago, back before the bombs fell there was a team of ponies and a griffon called The Children of the Night. They lived in the New Pegasus area for couple of years before everything blew up.
The project I’m working on has something to do with them. They left something behind, something big that could change everything for Equestria. That last orb was what showed me what I needed to do and where to go to find it… this… old project of theirs. For me it helped answer a few questions I had, but I have a feeling I’m missing something in it, I’m not sure what it is but I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something else there. Since I can’t seem to find what I’m sure is there, I’m hoping you’ll see what I missed, I can’t really trust this to anypony else. I mean who knows I could be wrong, but I doubt I am. So, watch it when you can and give you’re self a little time, it’s a long one. If you do see something make sure you do your best to remember what it was, I have a feeling we’ll see each other again one day and I’d like to hear everything you’ve learned.
There was a long pause, for a moment I figured the recording had ended, but then mom’s long tired sigh came echoing out of my Pip-Buck. Her voice sounded odd, almost like she was holding back sobs…
This is so hard for me to do Shadow, I’m so tired of always trying to stay fifty steps ahead of everypony. Most days I wish I could just give up on this fool hardy quest of mine and just go back and find you, making a life that doesn’t revolve around Lies, tricks, and death. I want you to know everything that’s going on and understand why I had to leave you. I never wanted too, if I could have I wouldn’t have even left the Stable, but my cover was blown, and I couldn’t take you away, not after you started to make a good life for yourself.
I know you’ll never believe me, but I hate every moment I’m out here and you’re stuck in that hole in the ground. Most days I can’t even get my work done because I keep thinking about my little girl, what she’s doing, who she’s becoming. I’m missing out on so much of your life, and when I finally will get to see you again, if I’m lucky, you’ll be grown and I’m sure you’ll hate me for what I put you through. I just want you to understand that I had to do this, Equestria needs me to finish this quest, even if I have to give up on everything I love.
One last thing I need to tell you, while you’re out here, try to stay away from The Steel Rangers, I used to work with the Branch from Hidden Sands, we didn’t end on good terms. Elder Apple Slice isn’t a bad mare, but she’s still a Steel Ranger and just like all of them, Technology is the only thing they care about. The only reason I was allowed to join was because I had the Mark II. Later they saw what I was capable of and I worked my way up the ranks. If for some reason you have met them, I’m sure they will try and get you to help them find another Mark II. Since you can’t remove the one you have, they’ll try to get you to help them get another.
If they ask you to help them say no, because there are only two more out there, one is in Trotston and they have more than enough fire power to keep the Steel Rangers at bay for a long time. It would take a full-on assault on the city and they wouldn’t risk that for one piece of tech, well I don’t think they would. Anyway, that only leaves the last one that was left in a Stable. That Stable is dangerous and a place you don’t want to go too. Trust me, the ponies in Trotston told me what is in there and you need to stay far away from it. I don’t care what they offer you in return, just don’t go there.
Anyway, I have to cut it off here, I have more work to do and a trip to make soon. Stay safe and make sure you watch those memory orbs. I love you my little Star, I hope you find what you’re looking for.
The Recording ended, but I kept looking at my Pip-Buck for a long moment. Then I pulled the recording out and threw it at the far wall yelling, “Yeah, would have been nice to know that shit beforehand Mom. Fuck, you leave me this information and still you don’t tell me anything in it that I can use apart from the fact that you left me memory orbs, you’re such a fucking bitch!”
Aura walked over, picked the recording up, and then placed it in her saddle bags. She looked over at me, a sad look on her face, “Calm down Shadow.”
I glared at her for a moment, “I don’t want too Aura, I’m so tired of secrets layered on top of more secrets.”
She came back over and pulled me into a hug, “Because you can’t change what happened. You need to start looking at things differently.”
I took a breath, then in a calmer tone I replied, “What do you mean?”
“Your mom did what she did because she thought it was the right thing to do, she wanted to come back to you so many times that it hurt. You heard her on that recording, she was almost in tears toward the end. I’d kill to know my mom cared about me that much. Think about it this way, she cared about you so much that she made sure you stayed in a safe place to grow up.” She said holding me tighter.
Finally I hugged her back a small tear left my eyes I can feel them getting a bit glossy, “You have a point, and it still hurts. I just wish she would have stayed that’s all.”
“I know, and when you do find her either good or bad, you can tell her how you feel.”
I laughed and pulled away, “Better watch out with being so nice Aura, you have a reputation to keep.”
“Yeah, just don’t go telling ponies.”
I just laughed again and got out of bed, “Since Violet isn’t back yet how about we go talk to Wrath. I have a few more questions I need to ask him before we head out. Who knows he may know where they took Stardust.”
“Not a bad idea, yeah let’s head down and have a word with that asshole.”
***
We arrived a few minutes later down in the lower levels of the lodge. Wrath was still there laying back in his cot whistling a merry tune to himself. Winter Frost was on his own cot trying to cover his ears. A small smile came to my lips as I watched Winter Frost toss and turn trying to ignore the red unicorn.
When I walked further into the room Winter Frost looked over at me, “Oh great like my day wasn’t bad enough, now I have to deal with you.”
“Oh, don’t worry Winter Frost, I’m not here for you. I’m here to talk to him,” I said pointing over at Wrath.
“Whatever, as long as you can get him to stop that annoying whistling.”
“What’s the matter Winter, don’t you like my rendition of March of the Parasprites?” Wrath asked with a laugh as he continued.
“Damn, that IS annoying,” Aura said wincing a little, “Can we make this quick Shadow? I don’t think I can deal with him.”
Walking over to Wrath’s cell I kicked the bars to get him to shut up for five seconds, “That’s enough Wrath, it’s about time we had a chat.”
He stopped whistling, rolling an eye over to look at me, “What can I do for you Courier?”
“You can start by telling me where your friends took Stardust.”
He closed his eyes again, “And why would I tell you that?”
“Because you’re the one stuck in a cell with a magic canceling ring on your horn.”
“So what? I could always use a break from all the fighting, this is like a nice vacation. Can’t say the same about the company, or the ponies guarding me, and the service,” he waves his hoof dismissively, “don’t get me started” he grins and looks at me sharply, “apart from that, I’m quite comfortable in here.”
I looked back at wrath in shock, the way he worded that last part… I remember Stardust saying something exactly like that back in Hidden sands. Words and actions to a T “Why did you say it like that Wrath?”
Wrath kept his grin, looked at me coldly and spat at the ground “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
Aura pulled her spear off her back, “How about this? If you tell us what we want to know we’ll let you live.”
He laughed again, “Like I said before, go ahead and kill me. You’d be doing me a favor.”
Reaching up I pushed Aura’s spear down, “What do you mean? You told me that before, but I don’t understand why you’d want to die. If you really hate being a Sin so much then why do you keep helping them?”
“I told you already, I don’t have a choice in the matter,” Wrath said his eyes getting a distant look to them.
I sat down and tried to see past the angry exterior. What I saw was a pony in pain, one whose anger came from a life time of hurt, “What happened to you? Why did you become a Sin?”
He sighed, “I already told you, I don’t feel like telling you my life story kid.”
“Then how about just a little about yourself. You’re stuck in here anyway, might as well do something with your time. It’s not like your team is coming to get you.”
For a moment all I saw was anger in his eyes, then they softened a little, “You’ve got a point. Since I’m bored anyway, might as well do something,” he moved to sit on his cot again as he continued, “Do you know why we’re called Sins?”
I had to think about that for a moment, as far as I knew no pony has told me why they were named The Seven Sins of Equinity, “Not really, all I know was that you’re all criminals of some kind.”
He chuckled, “Yeah you could say that, every member of the Sins has committed a major crime. All four pegasi have been marked as Dashites but instead of sending them away, the Enclave put their talents to better use. Even Pride committed an unthinkable act and because of it he became a Sin. From what I’ve heard, he requested to become the new Pride. He was still loyal to the Enclave and always would be. I’m the only member who never committed a crime.”
“So why are you a member of the Sins?” Aura asked.
“He’s full of bullshit, that fucker murdered his entire family after he lost his job a few years back, he’s lucky he’s even alive right now,” Winter Frost said, his voice filled with anger.
Wrath’s face grew angry again and he looked ready to tear the Pegasus apart piece by piece, but I intervened, “Winter Frost, keep your mouth shut before I have Violet come down here and make you.”
“Whatever,” he said rolling on to his side on his cot.
Looking back at Wrath I asked, “Why did you become a Sin?”
He took a moment to answer me, his eyes softening again, “As he said, my family was killed. Before I met Pride, I was happy living in Nimbus. My family were soldiers that helped protect the city back before the war. We were one of the only families up there that weren’t researchers. When the bombs fell we were stuck in the clouds. We joined the Enclave and always stayed as guards for two centuries. When I was on duty one day I met a nice mare, her name was Slight Breeze. We fell in love and got married, we had two foals and my life was perfect. Then I met Pride, the leader of the Sins, he wanted a new pony to replace Wrath, the one before me. He wanted me since I was one of the best marksponies in my unit and knew a lot of useful spells. I turned him down telling him that becoming a Sin wasn’t something you did because you wanted to, it was for criminals like him.”
“I bet he didn’t take that well,” I said.
“No he didn’t, he told me that I was right, but he was the one who chose his members and it was a rare thing for him to offer the job to a pony like me. I still turned him down and told him I’d never join,” his sad eyes grew even sadder as he continued, “I came home the next day and found Pride in my house, shadows rolling around him. He was standing over the bodies of my family, he smiled and told me now I’d have to join him, or face execution. I didn’t know what he meant at first, not until the guards showed up. Long story short, I was arrested for the murders. I was sentenced to be executed, and guess who stepped in to keep me from dying?”
“Pride?”
“Yeah, he made the offer again and to save my own skin at the time I took it. It was the worst mistake of my life. Like I said before, I used to be happy, my life was great, and then Pride stepped in and destroyed everything.”
Aura cocked her head to one side, “If he killed your whole family then why do you work for him?”
“Because Pride is stronger than I am, and I don’t want to die by his hooves, I want to kill him. Once he’s gone I’ll take over the Sins for myself, and again I’ll have at least a little respect. If I can’t get that, then I’d rather die as long as it’s not by that golden piece of shit,” Wrath said.
I sighed, “I’m sorry you had to go through all that. If you hate him so much then why hide the location of where they took my friend?”
Wrath smiled again, “Because I hate you just as much as I hate him, if I could I’d watch you both die.”
“Why do you hate her so much?” Aura asked, “What did she ever do to you?”
He started to laugh, “That’s an easy one, she killed my brother back at F&F tools when dipshit over there went after her looking for Stardust. My brother was the only pony left on this planet who cared about me. For that I want her to die, and suffer as much as she can before she does.”
I remembered that night, I did take down a few ponies, but most of the ones who died were killed by The Stranger, “What was your brother’s name?”
Wrath just looked away but Winter Frost answered, “Monsoon, the pony you stabbed with that energy spear your griffon has. He was a strong fighter and a good solider, and you killed him like he was nothing.”
“How could he be Wrath’s brother, he was a Pegasus?” I asked confused.
Wrath answered me, “My mother is a Unicorn and my father is a Pegasus. Just because I’m a Unicorn doesn’t mean that I can’t have family that are flyers.”
I turned my back on the two, “I didn’t know that, but still I did kill him. Understand this Wrath, your brother was trying to kill me, so was Winter Frost. I did what I had to, to keep myself alive. Let’s go Aura, these two don’t have any information that’ll help us.”
“Good idea, they can rot down here,” she said following me as we walked toward the stairs.
“That may be true Courier, but every action has its consequences. I WILL get out of here sooner or later and when I do, I’ll put a bullet in your skull,” Wrath said and grinned acknowledging my reaction earlier to his impersonation of Stardust’s mannerisms “Just remember this Courier Mare, the sins have eyes everywhere, hidden in plain sight, how do you think I know what your friend Stardust said back in that bunker.” Wrath cackled “Be careful who you trust.” A chill ran across my spine with Wrath’s words, I tried to shake it off and kept on moving. He was lying…he had to be.
I’m not sure why, but I felt bad for the red unicorn. He was so angry because he lost everything, all he had left was his hatred. I can understand his emotions somewhat. How far was I from becoming just like him? Little by little I was losing the ponies I cared about, one way or another.
First I’d lost my friends in the Stable along with Auntie when I ran away, I was no closer to finding mom than I had been two weeks ago, now Stardust was gone. Losing him was the hardest I think, he was the pony who went out of his way to help me on my quest. He was the one who always saw humor in things, always trying to get another pony to smile. Hell, he even put his prejudice aside and befriended Aura. He took time out of his day to spend time with Wingnut trying to be a good role model for him…okay well maybe not a good one, but it was better than nothing. Stardust was bull headed, annoying, goofy, and weird, but he was also one of the best friends a pony could ask for. He was loyal and true to his word. Now he was being held prisoner by The Sins and that hooded mare.
“You gonna be okay Shadow?” Aura asked as we returned to the main entryway.
I looked up at my companion and nodded, “Yeah, I’m just lost in thought is all.”
She stopped in front of me and bent down looking me right in the eye, “Is that so? Then why are you crying.”
I reached up and felt a few tears had started to run down my face, I sniffed and smiled wiping them away, “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“Like what?”
“I just realized how good of a friend Stardust was.”
“You mean what a good friend Stardust IS, he’s not dead. Even if it seems hopeless, always remember that he’s still alive. Also, don’t worry too much, we’ll get him back. Even if we have to take on the whole fucking Enclave, we’ll get Stardust back.”
“I hope so.”
“Well I know so, I still owe him a few whacks to the head for letting himself get taken in by that skank Lust.”
We pushed the door open and walked out into the crisp morning air, “Hey, I fell for her trick too y’know.”
“Yeah, but you’re new to The Wasteland and you have a weakness for cute mares,” she said laughing a little.
I blushed, “I do not! I’ll have you know that I didn’t hit on her once.”
“Big deal, you didn’t have time to hit on her, she was too busy trying to get to Stardust. My point is, Stardust knows better than to let himself get fooled by a mare. He knows that ponies were out here looking for him, he should’ve had his guard up,” Aura said sitting down and looking up at the cloudy sky.
“We all make mistakes, sometimes they aren’t that big of a deal, other times they can get you or others killed,” I said moving to go sit next to her.
“Yeah, I know that better than anyone,” Aura said pulling off her saddle bags and digging in them for a moment.
While she did I pulled up my Pip-Buck and used it to check my inventory for my barding. When I woke I didn’t have it on, so I figured my friends must’ve put them away. I was right too, a moment later I pulled the armored duster and barding out and slipped it on. Feeling more like myself, I looked back at Aura and asked, “What are you looking for?”
As I asked her, she finally pulled something small from her bags. She looked down at her talons, and at the small photo she was holding, “I was just looking for this.”
Looking closer I saw it was a picture of Aura and a young earth pony mare. She had a light grey coat with a bright red and blue striped mane, her eyes were deep purple and they sparkled with life in the old photo. The two seemed to be laughing at something in the photo, Aura holding her spear up in the air as the mare laughed along with her. I could just make out her cutie mark, it was a black wire connecting to a metal disk on one end and a rod on the other.
“Is that Trip Wire?” I asked as Aura looked down at the picture.
She sniffed, “Yeah, that was taken by her brother on the day she gave me this spear, we were laughing because Tariff was pissed that his sister had taken things from his shop to make it, the look on his face was so epic that we just broke into laughter. Eventually he joined us then snapped this photo.”
“You two used to be really good friends, didn’t you?” I asked.
“Yeah, she helped me get out of a lot of shit back in the day. She was one hell of a fighter and loved making others laugh. She showed me that there’s more in the world than just making contracts and getting paid,” Aura said with a smile before tucking the picture back into her bags.
“Tell me something Aura. Would Trip wire want you to be going around moping all the time about her death?”
She gave me a confused look, “No…she’d tell me to stop crying and smile. She’d tell me to remember the good times and forget the bad. She always looked at life like that.”
I smiled, “Then that’s what you should do. Stop worrying so much about what might happen and start looking at what good memories you could make with your new friends.”
“Huh, you got me there shorty. Alright fine then, I’ll try my best to stop dwelling on the past, but you have to do the same.”
“What do you mean?” I asked just as confused as she’d been a moment ago.
“Stop thinking so much about what you could’ve done to save Stardust or about that bad stuff from your Stable. Start looking forward and not back so much. If you do that, I’ll do the same.”
I smiled wider and held out a hoof, “Deal, I’ll do my best as long as you do yours.”
She shook it and laughed again, “Enough of this crap, let’s go see if we can find Violet and get the fuck out of here. I’m tired of laying around doing nothing.”
“You took the words right out of my mouth,” I said getting up and following Aura, my heart and mind in a much better place now...
***
We barely made it back into the Lodge when Violet found us, Wingnut and Silver not far behind, “I wasn’t expecting you two to be outside, is everything alright?”
I smiled up at the large Alicorn. She was glowing a little, I guessed it had something to do with the extra radiation she’d soaked up, “Everything’s fine, I just needed some fresh air.”
“That’s good to hear. If you’re all ready to go, then I think I have enough power now to get you to the other side of the mountain,” Violet said confidently.
“I’ve been ready, let’s get this over with,” I said.
Before anything else could be said, the loud commanding voice of Doorstop echoed from upstairs, “Shadow Star, you’re not going anywhere just yet.”
“Oh hey Doorstop, what’s up?”
“I heard you were going to get help from the Red Talons to help find the Cadet,” he said as he glided down to us.
“Yeah, and I still have a message to deliver to them from The Queen.”
“Good, I hope they’ll be able to help. I wish I could, but I’m not sure if they took him back to 97 or someplace else.”
“Why would they take him back to his Stable, I thought they wanted him dead?” Aura asked.
“Normally you’d be correct, but the Cadet is a special case. You see, when he was taken there as a newborn, he was one of 50 foals that was being used to test out a new kind of training. I don’t understand most of what they did, but in the end, out of all the ponies they experimented with, Stardust, Hailstorm, and three others were the only ones who blossomed into what the Enclave calls the perfect solider. They put a lot of time into making Stardust into what he is, they wouldn’t just throw that away just because he escaped and made life hell for them for a while. I don’t know for sure what they’ll do, but I know they won’t kill him.”
“Well if they DID take him back to Stable 97 where would we find it?”
“Easy, you can find Stable 97 here,” he took my Pip-Buck foreleg and made a mark on my map, “It’s a little north of the Ruins of Whinnieapolis and Saint’s Parish, but if you wanna break him out of there you’ll need an army.”
I looked down at the map and at how far away his old stable was, “This is halfway across Equestria. Why would you two come so far away?”
Aura spoke up, “Whinnieapolis is a dead city with only a few ponies living there, the towns around it however are run by the Enclave, it’s one of their very few ground populated areas, and most of the time they use that to house the Unicorns they don’t want living in Nimbus. They wouldn’t want to be anywhere near their old stable once they were gone.”
“That’s right, Stardust flew west and when I was out of there and got my hooves on my old Pip-Buck I used his Tag to follow him out here. Unfortunately all I found was a nice mare living near New Pegasus. She told me she’d gotten the Pip-Buck off a nice young stallion who wanted to get rid of it,” Doorstop said.
“So I take it that it’s a long shot that he’s back there?”
“Most likely he isn’t, but at least you’ll have a place to start once you hire those griffons. Oh, and before I forget, I’m gonna be heading out later to visit with this Queen you told me about. I figured that since she sent you all the way out here to find me, then I might as well hear her out.”
I brightened up a little at that, “I’m glad to hear that, you won’t be disappointed I promise.”
“I hope you’re right, because seeing as how The Wasteland is my home now, I want to help ponies keep it safe.”
“Just watch out for The Sins, they might go after you next,” Wingnut interrupted.
“Ah, don’t worry about me small fry, I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve and I don’t see any reason why they’d come after me. I’m just an old drill sergeant now, I ain’t got that many screams left to put the fear of the Goddesses into anypony.” He said with a laugh, “You all have a good trip and good luck.”
“Thanks again for the help Doorstop and stay safe,” I said as he walked out the front door.
When Doorstop was gone Wingnut walked over to me, I noticed he had Stardust’s rifle on his back, “Hey Shadow, I went up to Stardust’s room and got his stuff, I figured he’d want it back once we rescue him.”
I smiled at the colt, “That was a good idea Wingnut, I’m sure he’ll be happy to get it back.”
He reached around and pulled the Sniper Rifle off his back and gave it to me, “You hold on to his rifle.”
Taking it in my magic I looked it over, I noticed he had modified it some since I stole it from the town of fiends. He said he’d make it perfect for a Pegasus to use while flying, and it looked like he had. I smiled and looped the strap around myself letting it settle nicely on my back.
“Thanks kiddo,” I said rubbing his mane, “I’ll be sure to keep it safe.”
“I figured if you had it with you, you wouldn’t forget him…even if something bad happens.” Wingnut said, the poor kid looked close to breaking.
“Don’t worry Wingnut, we won’t forget about him…and we’ll get him back.” I said.
“Good,” he sniffed then he did his best to grin up at me, “Let’s go find him.”
“Well then, shall we be going?” Silver said stepping between Wingnut and me.
“Yeah, oh wait,” I said looking back at Violet, “I wanted to tell Nexus and Laser thanks for all their help, and to say goodbye.”
The Alicorn smiled gently, “I’ll be sure to tell them for you, they both left for New Pegasus this morning. Nexus wants to see about getting new parts for his terminals, but he wanted me to give you something before you left,” she pulled out a small wrapped box and gave it to me, “He said to open it when you have a couple hours of free time.”
“It feels like there’s memory orb is inside,” I said as I lifted the box with my magic.
“It could be, Nexus said you’d enjoy knowing more about…well in his words, the fucker who didn’t know when to quit,” Violet said.
Slipping the box into my saddle bags I smiled again, “Thanks, well then if that’s everything let’s get going.”
“I’d like to get out of here as quick as we can,” Silver said quickly. I looked over at her quizzically wanting to ask her what she meant, but before I could Violet’s horn started glowing.
“Have a safe trip, and thanks again for all your help. I’ll be sure to keep an eye on those two stallions for you,” there was a flash of red light and everything around us vanished…
***
When the world came back into focus I saw we were now on a road at the base of a large mountain. Looking back and up I figured we had to be on the other side from where the lodge was. I looked around and found we were between two sets of hills. On one side were large cliffs that went up to Frosty Summit Ski Lodge, on the other side, the cliffs had a slightly different color. There was also a few burned up trees, randomly scattered around us.
“How close was she able to get us?” I asked Aura.
She looked around for a moment, “We aren’t far, luckily for us one of the two main entry points to get into Crimson Canyon is on this side of the hills. The Talons don’t use it much since there isn’t much on the west side apart from the Alicorn settlement. Most ponies come through the east entrance.”
“So are we sneaking in?” Wingnut asked walking over toward Aura.
She laughed, “Kid you can’t just sneak into Crimson Canyon. There are always guards posted around both entry points and a few more in the air watching for intruders. We’ll more than likely run into a couple griffons as we enter.”
“I hate to ask, but what will they do when they see you Aura?” Silver asked.
“Who knows? If we’re lucky they’ll let me in since I’m with Shadow,” she said then she sighed, “Unless one of my Sisters is on guard, then it could be a little harder.”
“Why’s that?” Wingnut asked, I’m glad he did because I was wondering the same thing, but I wasn’t sure how to ask her.
“It all depends on which Sister it is, Syndi won’t be a problem, she’s cool, same goes for Viridiana. It’s Fletch that I’m worried about. She hates my guts and would rather see me dead than return home,” Aura said as she started walking southwest following the break between the hills as it slowly curved.
“Fletch? Why does that name sound so familiar?” I asked following Aura, Silver and Wingnut not far behind.
“She’s the second youngest out of all of us, she also has a major case of middle child syndrome, and she’s always trying to be the best child in Mom’s eyes. She always wanted to be better than the rest of us at everything.”
“Okay, but her name sounds so familiar.”
“Maybe I’ve told you about her before.” Aura suggested.
“No, I don’t think so. You really don’t talk about your family that much. I didn’t even know Apollo was your father until we met with Lieutenant Blazer. Your mom I know is Gigi, and I assume that she’s also one of the leaders of the Talons from what I heard Gina and you talking about. You’ve never really mentioned much about your siblings.” I said.
“From what I heard, there are three leaders in the Talons. Am I right?” Silver asked.
“I don’t know why her name sounds familiar Shadow,” she said then looked at Silver, “Gigi and Apollo are both part of the Counsel, but Gigi is the griffon who runs everything, the true leader in a way. Nothing happens in the Red Talon’s without her say so. Apollo handles a lot of our information gathering and relations with different factions around the area, like the N.L.R., the New Pegasus Strip, and the Steel Rangers. Then there’s Tonto, he’s the old griffon who is in charge of keeping our history and culture alive. He’s wise and kind, he also knows everything about The Talons going back to the days when we first settled in Crimson Canyon. He’s also got the best dirty jokes I’ve ever heard,” Aura said, as she talked we started moving down a steep hill that took us closer to the reddish colored cliffs and into rougher terrain.
“So your family is like the leaders of the Red Talons?” I asked moving around a prickly looking tree and trying to make sure I didn’t slip down the steep slope.
“No, my mom is the leader, and one day one of my sisters will take her place, that’s how it always goes. Yes our family has always lead the Red Talons, but that doesn’t make any of us special. Look at me, I was kicked out and I’m the daughter of the leader. In the Red Talons, we all start in the same place and have to earn our way to the top. That goes for my family as well. Whoever takes over as the new leader will have to prove they’re stronger than any other griffon. That’s how my family’s always done it dating back to the griffon who founded the Red Talons. My mom is respected and feared by every griffon because of that.”
“If that’s true, does that mean your mom is even stronger than Gina?” Wingnut asked.
“You could say that, Gina has a few tricks up her sleeve that could work in a one on one fight with Gigi, but the same could be said about Gigi. Honestly I’m not sure who’d win in a fight, those two never fought. Mom had already taken over as the leader when she decided to kick Gina out of the Talons for her betrayal.”
“So you don’t know who would win huh.” Wingnut said, grinning.
“Isn’t that what I just said?” Aura responded.
We rounded a corner and I saw that we were now facing a large break in the hill, two cliffs shot up high on each side of a path that lead deep into the hills toward a large canyon. I stopped when we reached it and stared. Now I could see why they called it Crimson Canyon, the brown red rock merged with thick red lines that ran along it. The dark red lines almost looked like blood had been painted into the sandstone itself, but it was most likely a natural formation. I was amazed by the rock formations and natural beauty along with the vivid colors of the rock itself, and I hadn’t even walked past the entryway yet.
“From this point on keep your weapons holstered. I’m sure one of the griffons on guard has noticed us by now. When we enter I’m sure one of them will come down to see why we’re walking right into their home,” Aura said taking a deep breath and walking into the Canyon.
We followed, doing as she said. I made sure to keep Dream Walker and the new energy rifle holstered. I noticed that Aura was walking slower than normal, her back straight. Her eyes locked on the path in front of her. She must be really nervous about coming back here. I didn’t blame her, I understood the fear she had to be feeling right now. The entrance to Crimson Canyon towered over us, the tall cliffs on each side dotted with dark holes that looked big enough to hide enemies, or griffons. I was really glad I didn’t have a contract on me right now, because if they were using those dark holes to hide, I’d never see them coming before it was too late.
It was also easy to see why this place was the perfect home for the Red Talon Company. It was easily defensible with its high cliffs and straight narrow entrance. Even if two hundred ponies tried to rush this place, they’d have to move through the entrance two ponies at a time, making it easy for the griffons to pick them off.
We kept moving slowly down the narrow path, as we did a shadow flew over us. I looked up and just caught sight of feathers vanishing over the high ledge. Looking toward Aura I said quietly, “I think we’re being watched.”
“We have been ever since we entered, they’re just guards. Just keep walking unless one tries to stop us. If they do then just let me do the talking,” she said, her eyes glued to the path in front of us.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea for you to do the talking Aura? Wouldn’t it be better if Shadow did since she’s the one that’s coming here for help?” Wingnut asked, he was keeping close to my side as we followed the griffon. I noticed Silver was hanging back. When I looked back at her, she just had a pleasant look on her face, as if this was nothing new to her.
“Normally yes, but since I’ve been banished, I’m not allowed to even tread on the dirt here, let alone go this far in. If they stop us, and they will, I’ll have to explain to them why I’m here and that I’m with Shadow under contract. Even then it might not work.”
Silver finally spoke up, “What’s the penalty for disobeying your banishment?”
“Depends on mom’s mood, but normally it’s a fight in the arena to prove your worth, other times it’s death,” Aura said.
As she finished the last words three griffons landed, two with modified rifles trained on us. The last held a long sword in her talons. She was colored similar to Aura, only dark grey instead of black, but her red markings matched. She also wore a red bandana on her head with a symbol I’d seen before on it. That bandana flashed back into my memory, Fletch was that griffon who ambushed us on the way to hidden sands, I hadn’t been able to get a good look at the symbol before, seeing how they’d just shot Stardust and wanted to take us captive.
This time I wasn’t so pressed for time and I wasn’t trying to save my own skin…at least not yet. The symbol was a three-clawed talon, gripping at a Crescent Moon from the side and surrounded by out-stretched griffon wings that touched at the tips.
She took a moment to look over me and my party, then her gaze fell on Aura, her sword moving and coming to rest an inch from Aura’s right eye, “It must be my lucky day, here I thought it was going to be boring seeing how I got stuck with guard duty. Who would’ve thought that you’d be stupid enough to come walking in here like this. So, tell me Aura, what could’ve driven you to do something so Stupid? Were you just tired of living the lonely life of a Talonless Griffon and decided to commit suicide, or did you just up and forget that you’re not welcome here anymore?”
A small smile pulled at Aura’s beak, “Hello to you too Fletch, long time no see. No I didn’t come here of my own accord, I’m here on a job,” she looked over the other griffon’s shoulder and smiled wider at the two male griffons that had been with Fletch last time I met her, “Hey Pluck, hey Gouger, glad to see you two are still doing well.”
The two males seemed to brighten up a little and the taller one, Gouger waved, “Hi Aura, it’s been ages.”
“Shut up the both of you!” Fletch screamed at them.
They both backed up a little, “Sorry Sir.”
Aura started to laugh, “Damn, you’re still as angry as ever aren’t you Sis? You know what, I’m glad you were the one that was working guard duty today, I was worried it would’ve been Mom, I’m not ready to see her yet.”
Fletch growled a little and moved the sword closer to Aura. I wanted to do something, but I remembered what Aura told me, “Don’t call me Sis or her Mom, you aren’t part of this family anymore Aura. You lost the right to that when you were exiled!”
“I was never kicked out of the family, only the Red Talon’s. Can you please let us pass? My boss has business here.”
“Over my dead body Aura,” Fletch said glancing over at me, “We don’t do work for Ponies like her. She’s lucky to be alive after what she did to Gus.”
“Apollo forgave her for that, she was only defending herself and you know as well as I do that he shouldn’t have been anywhere near that fight,” Aura responded, her smile gone now, anger replacing it on her face.
“Be that as it may, I’m still not letting any of you pass.”
“Why not Fletch, are you still mad about losing the contract on the Courier Mare, or are you just jealous that she contracted with a freelancer griffon instead of The Red Talons?” Aura mocked.
I could swear Fletch turned as red as her feathers, “Fuck you Aura, and its CAPTAIN Fletch. For fuck sake, I can’t believe you came back here with another Pony, and here I thought you wanted to find a way to get back into the Talons, but here you are starting the same old shit as before.”
In a flash Aura darted forward, ducking under Fletch’s sword. She took hold of her sister’s talon and wrenched it to the side making her drop the sword. Then she twisted and kicked up, throwing Fletch on to her back, then pinned her to the ground her spear out and glowing a bright green and pressed close to Fletch’s neck, “Why don’t you shut you’re fucking beak Sis, or do you need another lesson on who’s the better fighter?”
She tried to kick Aura off, but she didn’t seem to be able to move much with the way Aura pinned her down. A second later the two males had their rifles aimed at Aura, Pluck saying, “C’mon Aura, let her go before we have to do something we’ll regret.”
“Fuck you two, she needs to be shown her place in this world,” Aura responded still looking down into her sister’s eyes.
Not wanting things to get worse I walked closer and said, “Aura let her go. I think she’s learned her lesson,” then I looked down at Fletch, “I’m here to see Apollo, he asked me to come by when I could. I also have a package to deliver to him and business for your Talon Company.”
Aura got off her sister and walked back over to me, “Whatever you say boss, but I still think she needs to be shown her place.”
Fletch got off the ground and glared over at me, “I don’t need your help, I was just fine. She doesn’t have the nerve to do much more than that.”
“Oh please let me show her how wrong she really is,” Aura said holding her spear up again.
“I thought you wanted to get us in here without any trouble?”
“I did, but then I saw Captain Bitchface and figured, fuck it, she needs to be shown who’s boss.”
I sighed, “I swear, it’s like dealing with children. Listen, can you bring us to see Apollo? He’s been expecting us to show up for a while, and I’d like to get down to business.”
Fletch glared at me for a long moment then said, “No, we don’t need your business, leave before I make you.”
Before I could say anything else another female griffon’s voice echoed down from above us, “Captain Fletch, why are you stopping these travelers from entering?”
Looking up I saw a brown and grey griffon slowly flying down toward us, she looked a little older than Aura and Fletch, but not by a lot. She had two short spears on her back and a pistol holstered to her side. As she landed Fletch’s eyes looked down at her Talons, “Sorry Vi, they want to see father and they brought Aura with them, I can’t let them pass.”
The other Griffon sighed and walked over to Fletch. She punched her in the face knocking her to the ground, “Who are you to decide who enters and who doesn’t? Last time I checked, you were only to watch for anyone who wanted to attack this place.”
“But sis, Aura isn’t allowed back in Crimson Canyon.”
“Not on her own no, but she’s clearly under contract. Put your hatred aside and start following the rules,” then she looked over at me and smiled, “My apologies, I’m Viridiana, I command the guard here at Crimson Canyon. If I may ask, what brings you here Courier Mare, and why have you brought an exiled griffon to our home?”
Wow, she was a lot more polite than Fletch, “I’m here on business from The Queen, she has a package I need to deliver to Apollo, and he asked me to stop by to meet with the leaders of the Red Talons when I could. I also need to see about getting help finding a friend of mine. I brought Aura with me because she’s under contract with me.”
“May I see her Contract please?” Viridiana asked holding out a talon.
I took a moment to look at Aura who nodded that it was okay. I reached into my saddle bags and gave it to her, “She’s my bodyguard, and I won’t enter Crimson Canyon without her.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to. If there is one thing we pride ourselves on here at Crimson Canyon, it’s the law of the contract,” she said rolling up the scroll and giving it back to me, “I’m sorry my younger sister made such a fuss over you entering. We would never turn away a Courier from Equestrian Express.”
“It’s fine, as long as everything’s sorted out and no one got hurt.”
“Yeah, and why does the other Griffon hate Aura so much?” Wingnut asked, pointing a hoof over at Fletch who was still glaring at us.
Viridiana noticed and replied, “Captain Fletch, don’t you have work to do?”
Fletch got up and said angrily, “Yes Ma’am,” then she looked back at her two male companions, “You heard the Commander, get to work maggots!”
“YES SIR!” they both said and flew off with Fletch.
“Thanks Vi, I really didn’t want to have to hurt her,” Aura said watching as Fletch and the others flew away.
“Don’t thank me just yet Aura, you’re lucky it wasn’t Mom. She isn’t happy with you right now,” Viridiana said turning to walk down the path, “Follow me, we’ll see if Father is back from his job yet.”
As we walked Aura moved closer to her sister and asked, “Why is Gigi mad at me, what have I done? I mean, I’ve been doing everything she told me to after I was kicked out.”
“We’ve been keeping an eye on you over the past few weeks. Let’s just say, that you haven’t been making a good name for yourself as of late. We also heard a rumor that you’ve been meeting with Aunt Gina. When mom found that out she was very close to finding you and beating the shit out of you,” Vi replied.
Aura rolled her eyes, “I didn’t meet with her because I wanted to, she happened to be in a place where Shadow had to go. I didn’t even know she was still alive let alone helping a nut-job run a slaughterhouse. I didn’t have much to do with her apart from that.”
“I have to admit, she was scary, but she let us go in the end. She can’t be all that bad,” I said.
Vi stopped and looked back at me, “You don’t know what she did either. She’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing, you never know what her real motive is until it’s too late. If I were you I’d keep away from Gina, she’s nothing but trouble.”
“Don’t worry Vi, Shadow doesn’t intend on working with her so you don’t have to worry,” Aura said.
“It’s not like we like her anyway, she’s a total bitch,” Wingnut said.
Silver just kept quiet as she followed. I sighed, “Yeah, I don’t plan on it. I’d be okay with not running into her again if I can help it.”
Vi looked relieved, “I’m glad to hear that,”
A moment later we finally made it past the tall cliffs, they ended abruptly and opened into a wide Canyon. The red and brown sandstone worked like a kind of wall going high into the air, keeping all but flyers out easily. In the middle of the Canyon there was a fighting pit set up with jagged stone walls that looked like they’d been cut from the sandstone around them. Extremely nice huts had been put up all around the open area, each with a small fire pit in front of it. I saw griffons of all ages roaming around laughing, talking, and wrestling with each other.
On the other end of the open Canyon I could see younger griffons practicing formations with either spears or swords as an older griffon watched over them, sometimes walking over to one or two and correcting one of their stances. Behind the fighting pit on a raised slab of sandstone, there was a larger hut with the words ‘The Den’ over the entrance. As I looked around in awe I saw small breaks in the Sandstone with cave entrances on each and a balcony that overlooked everything. Every once in a while a griffon would be standing just outside one.
In the middle of it all, there was a tall statue of a griffon. She was on her hind legs with her wings open wide holding a curved sword in each talon like she was about to attack an invisible foe. Behind her there was another slab of Sandstone that had letters carved into it.
‘The Red Talons’ was on the top in large letters. Below something else had been written ‘The Ten Rules of The Red Talon Company’ I could see even smaller writing just under that, but I’d have to get closer to read what it was.
I wanted to go over and see what they said, when the Statue caught my eye again. I knew that griffon, from the most recent memory I’d seen. It was the scarf that gave it away, a scarf with a crescent moon clasp. I was amazed, and if I hadn’t just seen the memory of her, I wouldn’t have even caught on to who it was.
“Is that a Statue of Greta?” I asked.
Vi stopped and looked back at me, a look of shock on her face, “How do you know about our founder?”
“I saw her in a memory, she used to be a member of The Children of the Night during the war. I had no idea she started The Red Talons,” I said still a little taken aback.
“She looks scary,” Wingnut said.
“She was. She was one of the best fighters in our history, once banished from the ancient griffon lands she fought with Equestria all the way to the day the megaspells destroyed everything. She even helped in founding the Enclave if our records are right.”
“You mean a griffon helped found The Grand Pegasus Enclave?” Silver asked, she also looked a little taken aback.
Aura spoke up, “She did, but something happened a few years after the megaspells. She came down here, found a few griffons that had no place to call home anymore and founded The Red Talon Company.”
“Wow, I wonder what could’ve made her leave everything she knew to start this,” I said remembering how devoted she was to Night Stalker. What could’ve made her leave to start this? If what Nexus said was right, Night Stalker was around for a good forty years after the war. She would’ve had to leave her friend to come down below the clouds like that.
“We don’t know much about her before she came down here to be honest,” Aura said again.
“It’s true, but we know that she despised The Enclave ever since she started our Red Talon Company. Though Tonto might know more, he’s the one who keeps the history of The Red Talons,” Vi added.
I shrugged, “It’s not like it matters now. That was a long time ago, it doesn’t help me with what I need to do now,” though in the back of my head, I wanted to know more. Maybe once I found Stardust, I’d be able to come back here and talk to Tonto and see what he knew, “So what’s that on the stone that’s written behind her?”
Aura groaned so Vi answered, “Those are the Ten Unbreakable Rules of the Red Talons written by Greta herself. They are what make us different from most of the other griffon talon companies in The Wasteland.”
“What happens if you break an unbreakable rule?” Wingnut asked.
Vi looked over at her sister then sighed, shaking her head, “You end up like Aura, or you die. It depends on what rule you break and the mood of the leader.”
Looking at Aura I noticed she looked sad after I mentioned the rules, “I understand,” looking away I said, “Can we find Apollo so we can get this over with?”
“Sure, if he’s back he should be in The Den with the other two leaders. If not, you can try your luck with Gigi, our mother,” Vi said.
“Let’s get this over with then.” I said walking past Vi and up toward the overhang that held the large hut.
Vi and Aura followed, Wingnut and Silver behind them. As I walked I noticed how the other griffons stopped what they were doing, some whispering at each other and pointing at Aura. I did my best to ignore them, keeping my eyes forward.
Once I reached the entry to the Hut Vi stopped me, “Let me go in and check who’s here. Last time I checked Mom was meeting with another pony about dropping a contract, just wait out here for me.”
“Fine, just don’t take too long,” I said as she walked into the hut.
As we waited Aura moved closer to me, “Hey can we talk Shadow?”
“I’ve got nothing else to do while we wait so sure.”
Before she could say anything Silver walked over, “Aura, would it be okay if I walked around while we waited, I’d like to check this place out more.”
Aura shrugged, “I don’t see why not, Ponies are allowed to walk around the main parts of the Canyon as long as you stay on the lower level you’ll be fine, but if a griffon tells you to leave then come back here.”
“Can do,” she said then came over and kissed my cheek, “I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay, don’t get lost,” I said as she walked off, “Hmmm I wonder why she wants to walk around right now. I thought finding Stardust was the main reason we came here.”
Wingnut answered, “I’m sure she’s worried about him too, maybe she just needs to clear her head.”
“Maybe,” I said watching as my marefriend walk away, “She’s just not acting like herself,”
“She’ll be fine Shadow, now back to what I wanted to say,” Aura said, “Before you go in there I think it’s only right that you know why I’m an outcast.”
I smiled, “Aura, you don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to, I’ve gotten used to you keeping it a secret and I respect that. Yes, I’d like to know, but not if it’s hard for you.”
“I appreciate that, but telling you might make things easier for you when it comes to talking with Gigi. I’d rather you hear it from me and not from her, because trust me she’ll say something about it,” Aura said.
“Easier or not, I want you to tell me because you want to, not because you feel you have to,” I said giving her a smile.
She smiled back, “Regardless, you should still know, and I trust you now with knowing my secret.”
I was surprised that she was being so forthcoming with this information, and I didn’t want to stop her from speaking. I had a feeling she was only doing this because she felt she had to, but I couldn’t order her not to tell me. Aura opened her beak starting to say, “You see six months ago…”
She was cut off by another Griffon who poked her head out from the entrance to the hut. She was the splitting image of Aura, only her fur and feathers were white and red instead of black, her talons were black and same for her beak, but she had the same red markings on her wingtips and her head feathers. She looked older than Aura and had the same frosty blue eyes.
When she spoke, her voice reminded me a lot of Greta from Night Stalkers memory, “Well if it isn’t Aura, I’m surprised you were brave enough to show your face around here and with another mare as your contract holder. Will you ever learn Aura?”
I stepped in front of Aura and said angrily, “Who are you to say anything about who Aura contracts with? She’s a freelancer now and doesn’t have to answer to anyone.”
The older griffon frowned at me, “I have every right to say what I want to my own Daughter.”
I took a step back and Aura put a talon on my shoulder, “Shadow, just be quiet for a minute.”
Looking back at her I asked, “Why? I don’t care who she is, she doesn’t have the right to say things like that.”
“Yes she does. Shadow this is Gillian AKA Gigi the Leader of The Red Talons and my mother,” She said then looked at the white griffon, “Been awhile, I’m glad to see you’re still as bitchy as ever.”
Gigi reached behind her and pulled a curved sword off her back and pointed it at Aura, “Don’t talk back to me Outcast, I expect an explanation to why you’re here and I want something better than what Vi told me.”
As she talked I could see further into the hut. Standing at the far end looking out at me with a look of shock on her face was the last pony I expected to see in a place like this. Knowing that Aura could take care of her mother I pushed passed the older griffon and ran up to the grey bat pony I hadn’t seen since I’d left Stable 9.
“Wind Thrasher is that really you?” I asked.
“Shadow Star, what are you doing here?” she asked, looking just as shocked.
Before I could answer talons took hold of me and lifted me into the air then threw me back outside of the hut. I moaned a little from the pain of hitting the hard ground then looked up into the eyes of Gigi, “I didn’t say you could enter my home, that pony in there has business with us and it’s none of your concern.”
“She’s a friend of mine,” I said angrily.
“Does it look like I give a shit? You have some explaining to do as well Courier Mare.”
“Gigi, leave her alone. She’s my boss and she’s here on business too, don’t drag her into our family drama,” Aura said, but she was cut off by Gigi.
“Quiet Aura,” then she looked back down at me, “Tell me something, because I’m dying to know.”
Figuring I couldn’t be in any more trouble than I already was, “What do you want?”
“Simple really, are you fucking my daughter as payment too, because if you are I’ll kill you right here and now. I won’t watch her go down that path again.” she said pointing that oddly shaped sword at me again, “Tell me the Truth, because I’ll know if you’re lying to me.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked utterly confused.
“MOM, it’s not like that! If you’d take two seconds to listen to me I could tell you what’s really going on!” Aura started to yell, but Gigi ignored her.
“I’ll ask you again Courier Mare, are you sleeping with my daughter?”
I looked up at her then back over at Aura, something finally clicked in my head. Aura telling me about how she liked girls, how distraught she got over the loss of Trip Wire. The photo she kept in her saddle bags. The way Tariff acted when he saw Aura again. How embarrassed she’d gotten when I’d suggested we just take a bath at the same time, and why she refused to tell me why the loss of one of her contract holders was such a big deal. Trip Wire hadn’t just been Aura’s friend, no she was something more. Aura had been in Love with a pony. It was such a strange thing to hear even in The Wasteland, but when had Aura ever been a normal Griffon? I could see now why she hadn’t told me, a couple weeks ago, how would I have reacted if I knew that Aura liked mares? Would I have even let her follow me around and be my bodyguard? I don’t’ know, but I do know I would’ve seen her in a different light back then. I would’ve seen her much like I did most males, just another person who was eyeing my flanks or wanted me.
I sighed and closed my eyes for a long moment, took a deep breath then opened them again looking back at the hard gaze of Aura’s mother, “Fuck you…”
[FOOTNOTE: LEVEL UP!]
NEW PERK ADDED!
Action Filly Rank 2: Your Targeting Spell is now second nature to you. Gain +15 Action Points in S.A.T.S. and you have 20% better chance to get a critical hit as well while using the Targeting Spell.